Foto
by Charlotte Borup of book launching in library at Chennai with 250
participants. Tamil Nadu leaders on stage and me speaking. 12/11/11

“Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere” is usually
how I begin my talks in this three-week tour through several cities
and four states of India. Martin Luther King’s famous quotation
is supplemented with the internationalist creed of Fidel Castro and
Che Guevara. (1)

The reason for my tour is the publication here of two books I wrote:

“Tamil Nation in Sri Lanka” and “Sounds of Venezuela”.
My main topic here is to discuss why Cuba and ALBA’s Bolivarian
alliance of eight governments sided with the brutal, genocidal government
of Mahinda Rajapaksa in wantonly murdering tens of thousands of Tamil
civilians in the last stages of the war for liberation in Sri Lanka,
and how can a mass movement get that righted. (2)

For 30 years the Tamil people struggled peacefully to obtain equal
rights with the majority Sinhalese, asking simply that their language
and religions be recognized on an equal plane, that they be allowed
to obtain education and jobs equally with Sinhalese. They were met with
murderous pogroms. Some then took up arms and a civil war ensued for
more than two decades until the Tamil forces were defeated in May 2009.

At that time Cuba led the majority members on the Human Rights Council
in praising Sri Lanka for its “humanitarian” efforts and
for defeating “terrorism and separatism”.

Also See: Tamils Seek Support from Cuba & L.A. [3]

Most Tamils in Sri Lanka and in Tamil Nadu, a southern state in India
just a few kilometers from Sri Lanka, were admirers of Fidel and Che
and had followed the Cuban revolution with enthusiasm. Hundreds of thousands
demonstrated in Tamil Nadu after the May 2009 events to demand that
India and the UN condemn Sri Lanka. India supported Sri Lanka with armaments,
and intelligence as had Pakistan, the United States, Israel, China,
Iran, and EU governments.

The sadness and frustration of defeat was so compelling that 18 Tamils
in Tamil Nadu committed suicide, most by setting themselves on fire.

I spoke with many hundreds in 15 talks at unions, grass roots groups,
political parties, schools and three universities. I was an invited
speaker at a rally of tens of thousands in which two dozen pro-Tamil
Eelam (meaning nationhood for Tamils) groups and political parties unified
to demand that Sri Lanka government-military leaders be investigated
and tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity (See the UN expert
panel report on accountability). When I raised my fist while wearing
a Che t-shirt, the crowd roared. (3)

DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND WHY

Most who spoke with me wanted to know my opinion about why this land
of solidarity had sided with the “exploiters”, referring
to Fidel’s principle. A few knew that all states sometimes make
decisions based on political expediency. But what could be the advantage
of siding with Sri Lanka when every other state does so regardless of
its political or economic color?

My inadequate answer was: their view of unity among the sovereign states
within the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which is related to Fidel’s
absolutism about unity vs: separatism; Cuba’s position against
the use of terrorist tactics in guerrilla warfare, which Tamil armed
groups such as the Liberation Tigers for Tamil Eelam did sometimes succumb
to; and the recent role that China plays in economic and military support
to Sri Lanka that allows it to obtain a major military and commercial
port there coupled with the current economic dependency that Cuba has
with China, and its economic role as well in many Latin American and
African countries.

But where is the morality in this decision? The answer may entail the
need to have clear separation of powers between state and party, to
have an educated people about foreign policy as well as national policy.

I suggest to my new friends to communicate with grass roots movements,
with the indigenous movements in the Andes, with unions and political
parties, and eventually move up to the state level.

The new constitutions in the Andes grant equal rights to the indigenous,
recognizing their languages on equal par with Spanish. This is what
Tamils want.

US-EU voices about “human rights abuse” are false, as they
seek to justify attacks on countries they disapprove of such as Cuba,
and they use it as an excuse to invade countries for their natural resources
whether the governments abuse human rights or not.

It’s time to join forces to Boycott Israel and Sri Lanka. Let’s
tell Cuba and ALBA that their reasons to oppose Israeli genocide against
Palestinians are the same, in reality, as to why they should support
the Tamil people against the Sinhalese chauvinist, neo-liberal, pro-imperialist,
racist government of Sri Lanka.

Remind Cuba of what it just told the UN Security Council, as reported
November 15. (4) “Cuba reiterated to the Security Council its
commitment to fight against terrorism in all its manifestations and
carried out by anyone and anywhere.”

Solidarity persons and organizations supporting Cuba and other ALBA
governments should also ask them to fulfill their commitment to fight
against terrorism “regardless of motivation, especially state
terrorism”—as Cuba contended at the UN.—
NOTES:

(1) “Those who are exploited are our compatriots all over the
world; and the exploiters all over the world are our enemies…all
the revolutionaries of the world are our brothers” Fidel said
to Lee Lockwood, writer/photographer.

“ Proletarian internationalism is a duty, but it is also a revolutionary
necessity. So we educate our people.” From Che’s “Socialism
and Man”.

Written for www.HavanaTimes.org
8 Comments To "Cuba’s Contradictory Stance on Tamils"

#1 Comment By mr s.k.Jothipala On November 26, 2011 @ 3:12 am

I daily have same qustion like him.why cuba, latin america go with
srilankan singalish? I thing srilankan comunist part gave tham wrong
informations to them ; srilankan comunist party dont have any grassroot
tamil idology. srilankan comunist party serve only for singalise ,They
are singala racist comunist party?????strange no that is truth.they
say one do none or diferent ,like rajapaksa government.

#2 Comment By Sri On November 27, 2011 @ 3:32 pm

Ron Ridenour has set out the facts. How then did the Havana Government
fall for the official SL position and fall in line with the Arab countries
which are mostly in ferment under the Arab spring. Corruption is fading
out. Truth should survive.

#3 Comment By Sandy Vadi On November 27, 2011 @ 8:38 pm

Dear Editor,
Mr. Ron Ridenour’s “Cuba’s Contradictory Stance on
Tamil Struggle’ (Havana Times, November 25, 2011) is a strong
message that needs to be spread widely around the countries which have
two set of different standards for themselves. Not only does this apply
to the Cubans, it also applies to many of the ‘pretended champions
of the Palestinian cause’ who voted in favour of Sri Lanka at
the Human Rights Council in 2009 and helped Sri Lanka to continue to
detain over 300,000 Tamils behind barbed wire fences.

Some of the staunch supporters of the Sri Lankan regime who praised
the ‘mass massacre of Tamil civilians’ as ‘humanitarian
operation’, are now going through the Arab Spring, thus making
it difficult for the Sri Lankan president to take a public stance or
political statement.

Just about two years ago, the pro-Sri Lankan media trumpeted with pride
about President Rajapase’s achievement of sitting next to Colonol
Gadhafi during Libya’s 40th Revolution Day celebrations. In january
2011, just prior to the Libyan Spring, President Rajapakse dispatched
his eldest son Namal -, being groomed to be his heir and in an apparent
bid to preserve the Rajapakse Dynasty- to Tripoli to establish strong
relationship with Saif Al Islam, Gadhafi’s heir at that time.
It was also reported, Sri Lankan President, with few other leaders,
offered help with sanctuary during the final days of Colonol Gadhafi.
The main reason for the help was the extent of the conspiracy which
targets sovereignty, stability and national unity of the Libyan people.

Sri Lanka, like all these regimes, is another ‘make believe’
champion of the Palestinian cause. It is a sad fact of life for the
Palestinians to know who provided direct support, the modern military
equipment, lethal fighter jets and specialized intelligence to Sri Lanka’s
genocidal anti-Tamil killings and who continues to supply Sri Lanka
with arms and military training even after the United States and Britain
cutt off military supplies to Sri Lanka. Fidel Castro of Cuba once said
in the UN General assembly to put an end to the genocide against the
Palestinian people that is taking place while the world stares in amazement.
Sri Lankan President Rajapakse has gone one step ahead saying Jerusalem
will be the capital for Palestine while shedding crocodile tears for
the thousands killed in the Gaza strike.

Despite the rogue regimes helped defeat the UNHRC vote in 2009, last
year, the three-member panel from the United Nations submitted a 216-page
report on Sri Lanka detailing the inhuman behaviour of the Sri Lanka’s
mono-ethnic military and the awful scenes of brutality from starvation
of civilians, repeated shelling of hospitals to herding civilians to
a narrow strip of ‘No Fire Zone’ before killing upto 40,000
Tamils enmasse. There is video footage recorded by Sri Lankan soldiers
that shows the corpses of women being thrown into the back of a truck
for disposal, as if they were logs, by the smiling soldiers.

Barbara O’Brien, a Buddhist spiritual author wrote that Sri Lanka
has been attempting to establish a Buddhist military kingdom for long
time and quoted Sri Lankan leaders as “a demographic majority
with a dangerous minority complex of persecution.” As far as back
in early 80's, after one of the major ethnic riots occurred in Sri Lanka,
the International Commission of Jurists Review stated “The impact
of the communal violence on the Tamils was shattering. More than 100,000
people sought refuge in 27 temporary camps set up across the country.
The evidence points clearly to the conclusion that the violence of the
rioters from the majority population on the Tamils amounted to acts
of genocide” Leo Kuper, in his book ‘ Prevention of Genocide
(1985)’, said in commenting on the failure of the UN Sub Commission
on Human Rights to condemn the genocide attack (July 1983) on the Tamils,
thus, “It is unfortunate that the United Nations did not take
a firm stand at this stage’.

North African and Arab countries are not surrounded by heavily populated
geopolitics vying for dominance in the Indian Ocean. The regimes there
do not have the luxury of conducting an unwitnessed war like what Sri
Lankans did. There is no barbaric frenzy of ethnic fanaticism like what
we witnessed in Sri Lanka during several ethnic riots for the past 63
years since independence. There is nothing that can to stop an Arab
Spring or liberation of oppressed people.

As Mr. Ridenour rightly said “Cuba and ALBA cannot continue to
play a dual role in crying out for a ‘Palestinian genocide’
on one hand and facilitating genocide in supporting the Sinhalese chauvinist,
neo-liberal, pro-imperialist, racist government of Sri Lanka.

Many thanks,
Mrs. Sandy Vadi
Toronto, Canada

#4 Comment By eureka On November 28, 2011 @ 7:58 am

Ron
Tamils can’t thank you enough for all what you have been writing
for years.

Sandy
You have convincingly put the argument on behalf of many.

#5 Comment By Shiva On November 28, 2011 @ 11:56 am

“Most Tamils in Sri Lanka and in Tamil Nadu, a southern state
in India just a few kilometers from Sri Lanka, were admirers of Fidel
and Che and had followed the Cuban revolution with enthusiasm”.
YOU MUST BE JOKING.

I cannot remember a single instance of the Tamil political parties
in Sri Lanka defending Cuba. (Exceptions are the left parties which
have been weak among Tamils especially since the late 1970s). The Sinhala
polity, for all its faults, had been generally supportive of Cuba, except
for the right wing UNP.
Even the present regime (totally lacking in anti-imperialist content
except for the occasional empty slogan) has been supportive of Cuba.

The Tamil nationalists of Sri Lanka have always sided with imperialism
and India.

Support for Cuba in India grew as a result of a strong left in some
regions and Indian geopolitical considerations. (Ties with the USSR
were strong until the decline of the USSR in the 1980s and the strengthening
of the pro-US right in India since the 1980s).

The new found affinity of the opportunist Communist Party of India
for the Sri Lankan Tamils needs careful examination.
These ‘communists’ who were partners of Indira Gandhi in
her excesses during her ‘Emergency Regime’ in the mid 1970s
never supported self-determination in Kashmir, Nagaland or Manipur,
which have a more legitimate case than the Sri Lankan Tamil nationality.

The Maoists were misled into supporting the LTTE for a while. They
now know what a right wing outfit the LTTE was.

#6 Comment By Kuna ES On November 28, 2011 @ 3:38 pm

Dear Editor,

As you know the Sri Lanka is a much more complex place now. It is a
country responsible for ‘war crimes’ committed against section
of its citizens (Tamils) with the direct of political and military leaderships,
dire violation of both international humanitarian and human rights laws,
and the perpetration of unlawful acts of all sorts against its Tamil
citizens including journalists, media personals, aid workers, intellectuals,
religious leaders and rights activists.

Mr. Ron Ridenour’s “Cuba’s Contradictory Stance on
Tamil Struggle’ brought these facts to the world attention. I
want to take this opportunity to express my sincere whole hearted appreciation
to Mr. Ron Ridenour and the Havana Times for bringing this to the world
and calling on Cuba and other ALBA governments to fulfill their commitment
to fight against terrorism “regardless of motivation, especially
state terrorism”—as Cuba contended at the UN.

While, Tamils’ serious plight multiplying into many folds even
after the war ended almost two and a half years ago, Instead of using
the ‘end of war’ situation to bring about peaceful, long
lasting and acceptable solution to the past 63 years of Tamils’
legitimate grievances, the authoritarian Sri Lankan President Mahinda
Rajapaksa become as an elected dictator of the country.

It is imperative that unless Sri Lanka’s ‘war criminals’
are punished for their crimes against humanity and genocide of Tamils,
the “Sri Lankan Model” would become a nightmare in the future
for the world to comprehend.

I strongly believe that Mr. Ron Ridenour and the Havana Times will
continue to voice for the voiceless and oppressed Tamils in Sri Lanka,
and press the rest of world to bring about peaceful, acceptable and
long lasting solution to the past 63 years of legitimate grievances
of Tamils in Sri Lanka based on Tamils Right to Self-Determination.

Yours truly,

Kuna ES

#7 Comment By Noel On November 28, 2011 @ 4:57 pm

Thank you Ron for the excellent article you wrote regarding the double
standards adopted by certain countries with regard to Sri Lanka.We need
people like you to continue our struggle for a separate state.

#8 Comment By anand On November 30, 2011 @ 12:55 pm

To The people of cuba, We want cuba to support the tamils in eelam
in lanka….we are struggling to get independence from this racist
srilankan govt…..which killed lakhs and lakhs of our people…..whatever
be urs political and economical tie-ups ….we want cuba’s
support in getting freedom……..we need ur support….pls
help…..
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